AGROVOC Adds New Concepts Related to COVID-19

Following a request for more specific terminology on COVID-19, AGROVOC has added new concepts related to the current world health crisis in an extra release on 10 April.

This extra release is helpful for those cataloguing, especially as there is a plethora of research being done at the same time on the same topic. AGROVOC already had the concepts Coronavirus and pandemics, but has now added coronavirus disease (altterm COVID-19), severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (altterm SARS-Cov-2). Also more concepts like MERS, SARS, movement restrictions, and supply chain disruptions. The full impact of the virus on food security and agricultural food systems is not yet known.

A full list of new concepts in English are below:

Concept in English:

Definition:

coronavirus disease (altterm COVID-19)

COVID-19 is the infectious disease caused by the most recently discovered coronavirus SARS-Cov-2, which had not been previously identified in humans.

severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (altterm SARS-Cov-2)

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the name given to the 2019 novel coronavirus. COVID-19 is the name given to the disease associated with the virus. SARS-CoV-2 is a new strain of coronavirus that has not been previously identified in humans.

Middle East respiratory syndrome (altterm MERS)

Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) is a viral respiratory disease caused by a novel coronavirus (Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus, or MERS‐CoV) that was first identified in Saudi Arabia in 2012. Current scientific evidence suggests that dromedary camels are a major reservoir host for MERS-CoV and an animal source of MERS infection in humans.

Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (altterm MERS‐CoV)

MERS-CoV is a zoonotic virus, which means it is a virus that is transmitted between animals and people. Studies have shown that humans are infected through direct or indirect contact with infected dromedary camels. MERS-CoV has been identified in dromedaries in several countries in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia. Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) is a viral respiratory disease caused by a novel coronavirus (Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus, or MERS‐CoV) that was first identified in Saudi Arabia in 2012.

severe acute respiratory syndrome (altterm SARS)

Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is a viral respiratory disease of zoonotic origin that surfaced in the early 2000s caused by the first-identified strain of the SARS coronavirus (SARS-CoV or SARS-CoV-1).

Severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus (SARSr-CoV) is a species of coronavirus that infects humans, bats and certain other mammals. For the strain that causes SARS, see Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus. For the strain that causes COVID-19, see Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2.

Alphacoronavirus

Alphacoronavirus is a genus in the subfamily Coronavirinae of the family Coronaviridae. Both the Alpha- and Betacoronavirus lineages descend from the bat gene pool.

Betacoronavirus

Betacoronaviruses are one of four genera of coronaviruses of the subfamily Coronavirinae in the family Coronaviridae, of the order Nidovirales. They are enveloped, positive-sense, single-stranded RNA viruses of zoonotic origin.

Ebola virus disease

Ebola virus disease (EVD), formerly known as Ebola haemorrhagic fever, is a human illness caused by infection with an Ebola virus. EVD is a zoonotic disease, or a disease that can be transmitted between animals and humans.

incubation period

Incubation period is the time elapsed between exposure to a pathogenic organism, a chemical, or radiation, and when symptoms and signs are first apparent. In a typical infectious disease, incubation period signifies the period taken by the multiplying organism to reach a threshold necessary to produce symptoms in the host.

agent-based models

Agent-based models are computer simulations used to study the interactions between people, things, places, and time. They are stochastic models built from the bottom up meaning individual agents (often people in epidemiology) are assigned certain attributes.

equation-based models

Builds on an interrelation of a set of equations that captures the variability of a system over time (ordinary differential equations - ODEs) or over time and space (partial differential equations - PDEs)

health surveys

Survey including health related topics

non-pharmaceutical interventions

Non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs, also known as non-pharmacological interventions) include all measures or actions, other than the use of vaccines or medicines, that can be implemented to slow the spread of iinfluenza [and other illnesses] llnesses in a population.

physical distancing (alttterm social distancing)

Social distancing, or physical distancing is a set of non-pharmaceutical interventions or measures taken to prevent the spread of a contagious disease by maintaining a physical distance between people and reducing the number of times people come into close contact with each other.

hand washing (altterm hand hygiene)

Hand washing (or handwashing), also known as hand hygiene, is the act of cleaning one's hands for the purpose of removing soil, grease, microorganisms, or other unwanted substances.

movement restrictions

Limitation on the movements of a person or animal who has or is suspected of having an infection. Used as a public health and veterinary health measure.

The AGROVOC team plans to continue to add concepts to this list. More suggestions within the scope of AGROVOC are also welcome at agrovoc@fao.org.

Submitted on 10 Apr 2020by The AIMS Teamfrom FAO of the United Nations in Italy